INDEPENDENT nation paying for CELEBRATIONS

LAHORE - This year, PML-N government has been celebrating 68-year-old independence with ‘zeal and enthusiasm’ on the public money. Elected representatives, district administrations and town administrations have been distributing thousands of national flags, buntings and batches worth millions of rupees among the citizens motivating them to participate in month-long Independence Day celebrations.On the contrary, the public is of the view that the government is trying to divert the attention of the nation from prevailing issues like power and gas outages, law and order and especially the political turmoil.They say the government must focus to boost economy of the country, construct water reservoirs, improving law and order and resolving other problems instead of wasting money over such celebrations, causing unnecessary burden on the national exchequer.“We know how to celebrate the Independence Day – needn’t to be dictated in any manner,” they added.Whereas, the government has directed all the departments, administrators of City District Governments and Town Municipal Authorities across the province to make the event ‘memorable’ this year but expenditure will have to be borne by the CDGLs and TMAs as the government has not allocated any funds for the purpose, insiders informed this scribe.In addition, all the district administrations have been directed to bind all the Town Municipal Officers (TMOs) to arrange funds from their own resources or use other funds allocated for different development schemes.The district administrations have also been directed to issue instructions to the subordinate bodies such as Wasa, Solid Waste Management, Parks and Horticulture Authority, Development Authorities and others to ensure their participations in the celebrations, besides holding seminars, walks and rallies on daily basis. In addition, the government has directed all the party members and elected representatives including MNAs and MPAs of PML-N to make moves in their concerned constituencies for motivating the public to participate in the celebrations with eagerness. In this regard, the elected representatives are on roads, personally distributing flags and similar material among the public, motivating them for joining celebrations.As per the directions of the government, City District Government Lahore has continued its efforts to celebrate August as a month of Independence. In this regard, the district administration has also issued schedule for different events including holding sports events, seminars, walks and other activities.Previous day, the administration of Government Saad Mitha Hospital arranged an Independence Walk to mark Jashan-e-Azadi. The walk, headed by DCO Lahore Capt (retd) Muhammad Usman, MNA Pervaiz Malik, and Kh Imran Nazir, included hospital staff and some other locals.The employees of different departments, subordinate authorities and sections of CDGL are arranging similar walks on daily basis. Chanting slogans ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, they are also paying rich tribute to the founders of motherland who sacrificed a lot to attain a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Participants and speakers are also committing in their speeches that they will utilize all their efforts to bring this country on the track of peace, prosperity and progress.Furthermore, Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), PHA, LDA, Wasa and other departments will hold several ceremonies to mark Independence Day, in which a large number of Muslim and Christian workers will participate to express solidarity.Such ceremonies will include waving of national flags on all offices, installation of stalls on city’s major visiting places, distribution of gifts like caps and T-shirts among citizens, especially children. Flag and float marches with branded vehicles will be held within the city and at Wahga Border, besides the making of human flag by LWMC workers.